


A New Opportunity

by WandaSeldon



Category: Foundation - Isaac Asimov, Robot Series - Isaac Asimov
Genre: Daneel's Home for Aging Robots, Foundation and Earth, Gen, Opportunity (Mars Rover) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 19:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17772965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WandaSeldon/pseuds/WandaSeldon
Summary: Daneel and Fallom discuss old opportunities and new ones.Big honking spoilers for Foundation and Earth.





	A New Opportunity

“What are they?” 

Fallom’s question echoed through the long hallway Daneel had been leading her down. She was a loud little child. He had never been good with children; perhaps he should have practiced with some before essentially adopting one.

Fallom had stopped at one of the memorials.

“This is one of my progenitors,” Daneel said, gesturing to the wheeled skeleton that stood on the pedestal Fallom pointed at. “Opportunity explored the Martian surface many thousands of years ago to advance humans’ understanding of space.”

“But they're dead now?”

“Yes. She died a long time ago.”

Fallom raised her eyebrows and her lips puckered in an “Oooh.” She had been taking delight in her newly-assigned gender. “'She', like me!”

“Like you,” Daneel nodded. “She was a brave little explorer who left her home planet for the good of humanity.”

Fallom smiled, then reached up to bat at the skeleton’s wheels. “What happened to her, Mr. Jemby?” she asked. ' _Mr._ Jemby' was what she had started calling him to distinguish him from her original caretaker; Daneel would wait until her young mind had calmed in its new environment before trying to correct her. 

“One day a large dust storm covered the planet of Mars,” Daneel said, gently pulling Fallom’s hands away so the ancient wheels would not be harmed. “Opportunity’s solar panels could not absorb enough energy to keep her operational. The scientists monitoring her from Earth tried for months to revive her.” Like I have tried to revive this planet, Daneel thought grimly. Though there were no windows in the corridor, he turned away to look in the direction where the face of lifeless Earth watched her silent satellite. Doomed efforts, all.

“Her sister is here too,” he added, gesturing absently down the corridor to where Spirit was enshrined like her twin. “They were not forgotten for a very long while, but time erodes even the fondest human memories. I have collected those primordial probes and rovers who I could find and given them a final resting place here. Together, they provided the ancient scientists with a better understanding of this solar system and far outlasted their expected lifetime.” He touched the wall separating them from his dear friend's homeworld. “Like I have,” he added softly.

“They just ran out of batteries, right?” Fallom said, eagerly and rather louder than necessary. “Maybe we can charge them back up? Jemby did that with one of my toys after it stopped working one day. It came right back to life! I think you should try-”

Daneel sensed Fallom’s mounting excitement and turned to find her climbing the pedestal to cling to Opportunity’s withered solar panels. “These are not toys,” he said, nudging her with his mind. “Please come down from there.” 

Fallom sighed but carelessly hopped down. “You should try,” she insisted. 

Daneel inclined his head slightly. “If I could find the right source of-” he cut off as he noticed the robot’s head twitching slightly, its solar panels flexing. “Not toys,” he repeated gently. 

Fallom let her concentration lapse and the robot stilled. “Don’t give up, Mr. Jemby,” she said. “You’ve been talking about all the awesome things we’ll do together. The least we could do is revive all your old friends too and give them a happy place in Galaxia. Besides," she said, placing her hand - reverently, this time - on Opportunity's pedestal, "I want to meet her!”

Daneel laid a hand on Fallom’s little shoulder to guide her away from brave old Opportunity and allowed his mind to drift to another old friend. “I would not be opposed to trying.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I know there was probably not a series of rovers like Opportunity in the Robots/Foundation universe (pretty sure they would all have had AI/positronic brains by 2004 in their timeline - /shakes fist at our slow technological development), but I was sad so here we are.
> 
> Rest in peace, brave Opportunity.


End file.
